City College of San Francisco is in danger of losing its accreditation and the public funding that comes with it, which would probably force the school of 85,000 students to close next year.

City College of San Francisco is in danger of losing its accreditation and the public funding that comes with it, which would probably force the school of 85,000 students to close next year.

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

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City Attorney Dennis Herrera reports during a press conference at City Hall that he has filed dual legal challenges to the possible termination of City College of San Francisco's accreditation, in San Francisco, California on Thursday, August 22, 2013.

Flanked by Chief Deputy City Attorney Theresa Stewart, left and Sara Eisenberg, right, City Attorney Dennis Herrera leaves the room after reporting during a press conference at City Hall that he has filed dual legal challenges to the possible termination of City College of San Francisco's accreditation, in San Francisco, California on Thursday, August 22, 2013.

Flanked by Chief Deputy City Attorney Theresa Stewart, left and Sara Eisenberg, right, City Attorney Dennis Herrera leaves the room after reporting during a press conference at City Hall that he has filed dual

City Attorney Dennis Herrera reports during a press conference at City Hall that he has filed dual legal challenges to the possible termination of City College of San Francisco's accreditation, in San Francisco, California on Thursday, August 22, 2013.

San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera filed suit Thursday against the commission that is set to revoke City College of San Francisco's accreditation next year and said he hopes to halt the process that could shut down the school of 85,000 students in 2014.

Herrera accused the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges of targeting City College because students and faculty opposed state efforts to downsize colleges when California was cutting spending during the depths of the recession. He said the commission had supported the state's efforts.

"The commission acted improperly to withdraw accreditation from City College for having embraced a different vision," Herrera said in announcing the suit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court.

In addition to what he called the commission's retaliation against the college, Herrera accused it of multiple conflicts of interest and having an "improper evaluation process" for community colleges it accredits in California, Hawaii and the Pacific islands.

Herrera is seeking an injunction against the commission to vacate its decision to revoke accreditation.

Herrera filed a separate legal action - not a lawsuit - against the state Board of Governors, which oversees California's 112 community colleges. In it, he accused the board of improperly relinquishing its authority over the colleges to the accrediting commission, which he called a "wholly unaccountable private entity."

"The evidence is clear that the (commission) ignored multiple conflicts of interest, flouted laws and allowed its political advocacy to color public responsibilities it should frankly never have been given," Herrera said. "The state Board of Governors is also to blame for unlawfully ceding its public duties" to the commission.

An unsigned statement e-mailed from the commission Thursday evening said the agency was surprised to learn about the legal actions, had not fully reviewed the allegations and will respond in court.

Nevertheless, "these actions appear to be without merit and an attempt to politicize and interfere with the ongoing accreditation review process with respect to the City College of San Francisco," the message said.

Regional agencies

The commission, based in Novato, is one of the country's six regional accrediting commissions for community colleges. All are private, supported by the dues of member colleges. The U.S. Department of Education evaluates them every five years.

Herrera, who said he has been investigating the commission for weeks, based some of his allegations on recent findings by the Department of Education, which upheld four complaints about the commission made by the college system's faculty union in April.

The Department of Education said the commission had too few teachers on teams that visit and evaluate colleges, used unclear language in evaluating colleges and had no clear policy on conflicts of interest.

The commission gave the appearance of a conflict when it let the husband of commission President Barbara Beno serve on the team that visited City College last year, the federal agency said.

The department also said the commission takes too long to sanction colleges.

The commission found so many problems with City College's fiscal management and governance that it issued its most severe sanction in July 2012 and gave the school a year to improve or risk losing its accreditation.

Forfeit funding

Without accreditation, colleges forfeit the public funding that keeps them operating.

Throughout the next year, City College officials tried to address the many deficiencies cited by the commission, even as students and the faculty union protested and resisted what they considered austerity measures.

In July, the commission found that City College was still out of compliance and issued its devastating decree.

But the union continued its fight, and succeeded in turning the tables somewhat on the commission by calling its problems to the attention of the Department of Education.

Now, Herrera is marshaling the efforts into legal action.

Response required

The legal action against the Board of Governors, which demands that the state-appointed board take a more active role in the accreditation process, requires that California's community college Chancellor Brice Harris respond within 45 days. Herrera can sue if he is not satisfied with the response.

Both the Board of Governors and City College repeated what they've said all along: They're focused on repairing the school's deficiencies and not on attacking the commission.

"Regardless of one's views about the (commission), by its own admission City College did not meet the standards that all 112 community colleges in California have agreed to meet," said Paul Feist, a spokesman with the statewide community college chancellor's office.

He pointed out that the Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance Team, a state-funded agency that helps schools and colleges in crisis deal with financial troubles, independently found an array of financial management problems at City College that persist even a year after the school was first sanctioned.

"City College cannot become the battleground in the fight concerning accreditation without sustaining further damage to this important institution," Feist said.

City College spokeswoman Jennifer Aries said, "Our focus remains on the road map to recovery."